Ballroom isn't for sissies. Hours of training and grueling rehearsals are required for a seamless meshing of minds and bodies when the music kicks in. So when Steve Valentine and Robbie Tristan take to the floor at Balliamos Dance Studio in West H...

Once in a while, an actor ends up with a TV role that turns him or her into a cultural icon — the Fonz, Carrie Bradshaw, Lassie. But few end up taking their fictional social responsibility beyond the camera. That's what Dot-Marie Jones chose...

When you think of a choir composed of students with disabilities, do you have an "Aw, shucks" Hallmark movie moment of weepy, can-do inspiration? Well, music therapists Victor Lissabet and David Jurs will have none of those pity parties when they ...

Imagine: You need a jug of your favorite red, so you get in line behind the neighborhood locals at a lone railroad boxcar just south of the L.A. Basin, right next to Union Pacific. Your jug is filled by a proprietor who knows your name, and you fo...

Quick: If you had to help homeless families, how would you start? Homeless activist Tanya Tull says people typically answer, "Well, I'd get them jobs or counseling." "That's backward," snaps the diminutive president of Beyond Shelter, a nonprofit ...